The Star Cross: The Dark Invaders by Raymond L. Weil Page B

communications
operator. “I need to speak to Captain Briar immediately!”
    “Just a
moment,” the communications operator responded. “I’ll put you through to his
office.”
    Keera just
hoped she was in time.
    -
    Kurt was in
one of the Humvees going to his meeting with Nirron, the Controller who was
working on the contract to declare the area of space around Julbian of interest
to Newton. Grantz had returned earlier and reported much of the work had
already been done, and Nirron had a few questions that needed to be clarified
before the contract would be ready to be filed. Later in the day, Kurt wanted
to make arrangements for some Kubitz factory dealers to go to the Newton
Princess to meet with the business people waiting on board. Dolman had
mentioned several factory groups who routinely dealt in building and delivering
the automated factories Governor Spalding was interested in. These factories
were quite common on Kubitz and the rest of the Gothan Empire.
    “I saved you a
lot of credits,” Grantz said haughtily. “I have proven once again how valuable
I can be.”
    “We’ll see,”
said Andrew, shaking his head. “What do you do with all the credits we pay
you?”
    Grantz grinned
and leaned back with a self-satisfied look on his face. “I have a reputation to
uphold. The females at the pleasure houses expect a certain flair from me. I
tell you, the women, food, and drinks at the pleasure houses are the best on
Kubitz, among other things. You should really come with me one time to see for
yourself.”
    Andrew shook
his head. “I’m happily married. No way would you catch me near one of those.”
    “You can skip
the women,” Grantz said, shrugging his shoulder. “Just come for the food,
drink, and the entertainment. I promise it will be an experience you will never
forget. I’ll even buy the first round of drinks.”
    “No thanks,” said
Andrew, frowning at the Profiteer.
    “Admiral, we
may have a problem,” Sergeant Jones said with concern in his voice. He sat in
the front passenger seat next to the corporal, who was driving. “I just
received an emergency message from Captain Briar. It seems that a bounty has
been placed on your head.”
    “A bounty!”
said Andrew, his eyes widening in disbelief.
    “Yes,”
Sergeant Jones replied as he unbuckled his safety harness and stepped through
the small armored hatch that separated the driving compartment from the
passenger compartment. “A warning was called in to the embassy. They’re rolling
three more Humvees to rendezvous with us and escort us back.”
    “How big?” Grantz
asked Kurt. Bounties weren’t that unusual on Kubitz.
    “Two million
credits.”
    “Two million
credits!” roared Grantz, his eyes growing wide at the amount, his hand automatically
moving to his gun. Taking a deep breath, Grantz brought his hand back to his
side.
    Andrew watched
Grantz. His hand rested on his 9 mm pistol. “Don’t get any ideas, Grantz,”
warned Andrew, tapping his pistol. “Remember who’s paying you.”
    Grantz only
grinned and nodded. “I like you, Captain. You have nothing to fear from me, but
a lot of bounty hunters and hard-on-their-luck Profiteers will want to collect
that bounty. I suggest we turn around and get back to the compound where it’s
safe before we’re attacked.”
    “Get us back
as quickly as possible,” Kurt ordered as he listened to Grantz.
    While Kurt
still didn’t fully trust the Profiteer, Grantz was probably right about the
danger. Kurt had been through an attack on Kubitz once before and had no desire
to go through one again. The report of the bounty deeply concerned Kurt. With a
reward of that size, he wasn’t sure even the embassy compound would be safe. It
might be necessary to return to the Star Cross , making sure enough
people witnessed his departure so the embassy would be left alone.
    “High
Profiteer Creed,” Andrew said grimly. “It has to be him. We should have killed
the son-of-a-bitch at Julbian when